Iowa defensive lineman Faith Ekakitie was minding his own business while walking around in search of Pokemon in popular GPS-gaming app, Pokemon Go, when he had the scare of a lifetime.
Police held Ekakitie at gun point as the officers searched him in what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Ekakitie shared his terrifying experience with a Facebook post, in which he puts some blame on the media.
Today was the first time that I’ve ever truly feared for my life, and I have the media to thank for that.
Today I was surrounded and searched by approximately five Iowa City Police Officers. My pockets were checked, my backpack was opened up and searched carefully, and I was asked to lift up my shirt while they searched my waistband. Not once did they identify themselves to me as Iowa City Police officers, but with four gun barrels staring me in the face, I wouldn’t dare question the authority of the men and woman in front of me. This is what happened from my point of view.
Ekakitie then goes on to provide the point of view of the officers, rather than going to directly blaming the police for racial profiling, and he sheds the light on why the police officers felt the need to draw their guns on him in the park.
From the police officers point of view, all they knew was that a bank had just been robbed less than ten minutes ago. The suspect was a large black male, wearing all black, with something on top of his head and the suspect is armed. As they drive past an Iowa City park that was less than 3 minutes away from the bank that was just robbed, they notice a large black man, dressed in all black, with black goggles on his head. They quickly move to action and identify themselves as the Iowa City police and ask me to turn around and place my hands up. I do not comply, they ask again, and again no response from me. So they all draw their guns and begin to slowly approach the suspect.
In this situation, what the media would fail to let people know is that the suspect had his headphones in the entire time the Police Officers approached him initially. The suspect had actually just pulled up to the park because he was playing a newly popular Game called Pokémon Go. The suspect didn’t realize that there were four cops behind him because his music was blaring in his ears. The suspect had reached into his pockets, for something which was his phone, but for all the cops could have known, he was reaching for a gun. The suspect could very well become another statistic on this day.
Ekakitie felt the need to tell the whole story about this incident in question in light of recent headlines involving police and the black community. Here, we see that Ekakitie is a reasonable person who took the time to understand both sides of the situation and see how close we could have been to yet another chapter in this ongoing saga in our country. Ekakitie showed his appreciation for the job the Iowa City Police Department did and how this particular situation was handled.
Misunderstandings happen all the time and just like that things can go south very quickly. It is extremely sad that our society has brainwashed us all to the point where we can’t feel safe being approached by the police officers in our respective communities. Not all police officers are out to get you, but at the same time, not all people who fit a criminal profile are criminals.
So with that, I would like the thank the Iowa City Police department for handling a sensitive situation very professionally. I would also urge people to be more aware of their surroundings because clearly I wasn’t.
That is good advice we can all follow.
[h/t SB Nation]
